The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in collaboration with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Field Operations seized 221.7 pounds of cocaine last month.
The narcotic was concealed in produce cargo vessels arriving to Port Hueneme, Calif., from Guatemala and Ecuador.
Officers boarded a refrigerated vessel arriving from Ecuador on Jan. 22 and found 80 bundles of cocaine weighing 204.2 pounds concealed under the floorboards. Officers then uncovered seven bundles of cocaine weighing 17.5 pounds under the floorboards of a cargo vessel Guatemala on Jan. 28.
“This is the largest drug seizure at Port Hueneme in the last quarter of a century,” LaFonda Sutton-Burke, CBP port director of Port Hueneme and the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport, said. “I’m extremely proud of the results of this joint effort, it shows the professionalism, vigilance and keen focus of both agencies in preventing dangerous drugs into our communities.”
As drug traffickers get more creative, HSI is committed to working with CBP and law enforcement to stop them, Joseph Macias, the Special Agent in Charge for HSI in Los Angeles, said.
HSI will use intelligence to identify, disrupt and ultimately dismantle the criminal organization behind the snuggling, he said.